Cardiff Steiner School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Cardiff Steiner School is a happy, close-knit community where adults and pupils care for and respect each other. Pupils’ personal development and well-being are at the centre of all the school’s work. The school adheres faithfully to an educational philosophy aimed at developing the whole child, placing equal importance on intellectual, artistic, physical, and practical skills. Creative activities are an essential feature of the school, and the standards achieved by pupils in these areas are extremely high. Across the school, nearly all pupils make strong progress with their sensory and physical development, and are confident, articulate speakers for their age. Staff know pupils and their families extremely well, have a strong understanding of their needs, and build secure professional relationships with all members of the school community. As a result, nearly all pupils feel safe at the school and appreciate its cohesive family atmosphere. The school follows a well-established, highly adaptable curriculum focused on engendering a wide-ranging, life-long curiosity and love of learning. Its thematic approach to teaching encourages development of pupils’ in-depth understanding of topics. However, in a few areas, particularly in mathematics, a lack of full-time, subject-specialist teachers limits the effectiveness of provision and the progress made by pupils. Nearly all teachers have established welcoming, purposeful learning environments. However, on a few occasions, the pace of learning and the level of challenge in lessons are too low. For a minority of pupils, strategies to improve attendance are not effective and this is impacting on their progress in learning. In keeping with Waldorf-Steiner philosophy, leadership of the school is shared through a flat management structure. Leaders know their individual faculties well, have together developed a strong culture of safeguarding, and take care to involve all members of the school community effectively in its working life. Trustees provide appropriate oversight and are fully engaged with the life of the school, acting as effective critical friends to leadership. The school complies with all of the Independent School Standards (Wales) Regulations 2024.